Gospel speech in Business 201

The Lord laid upon my heart to give a gospel speech in my business class on the last day of classes. I was thinking on what to do my speech on. It is my policy to share the gospel any chance I get. So it was an easy decision. I started to prepare and thought of how I could do it in five minutes. I prepared my outline for my teacher and to keep me from going off on tangents. Five minutes is a very short time. When some of my friends asked me what I was doing for my speech I told them and they gladly prayed for me. The Lord was definitely working as some of the guys in the other sections also shared the gospel in their classes. As the time grew closer to the speech I found myself very busy, but the Lord helped me to not feel tired. I was so excited at this amazing opportunity. I was also very nervous because my classmates get to ask questions afterwards and I was sure that one of the Muslim guys would ask a question. I was thinking of all the hard questions that could be asked of me and praying that I would have the words to answer those questions. I got there at 8 am and all the time I was praying for the Lord to work in the heart of my teacher as to when I was to go in the lineup. I would have loved to go last but I was called on to go first. I passed out the almost illegal literature (gospels of John) in class. There was a big ruckus and at first I didn’t hear it and then I realized what they were saying. Some of the things they said was “I don’t want any of this garbage; I don’t need this. This is dumb.” (All of this was said in much more colorful terms). I knew of at least four Christians in my class. So I started my speech I had my outline but after the first point I discarded it and just went with what I had done a thousand times over when talking to people on the street. The Lord helped me with it. I asked where people were going when they died and immediately I got most people’s attention. I went on to explain explained that we are all sinners and going to hell. Then I went on to what Christ did for us in dying on the cross and rising again. 3.5 minutes had gone by So I told them the only way to heaven was believing in Jesus Christ and in believing , turning away from their sins. Then I closed with asking them if they were to die tonight would they go to heaven? I told them that that needed to make a choice and not to wait. I think it really made some of them think. Immediately afterwards just as I predicted the Muslim fellow raised his hand and asked me if someone came and raped my sister would he go to heaven or hell. I simply answered him if he believed in Jesus Christ after he had done that he would go to heaven. He didn’t like that very much and told me he had read the Bible before and in Song of Solomon 16 (at this point I was like what Bible is he reading) Jesus said to a man that if he kept the commandments he would go to heaven. I knew the story and did not bother to correct him on the book and chapter but went on to explain to him what Jesus really said. That if the man had kept the commandments since he was born then he would go to heaven but because no one had there had to be another way and that way was Jesus Christ. Immediately afterwards my teacher rushed me off from the front of the class not wanted anyone else to ask questions. I smiled in my mind and prayed for the rest of class. Many of the unbelieving friends I had made in that class did not want to have anything to do with me after that, but that goes with sharing the gospel, so it is not a surprise. I was wondering how everything went, but I had no way of finding out. I had a bunch of other things to do so I went to check my e-mail to see if one of my professors had e-mailed me back and I found a message about the speech. A girl in my class wrote an encouraging letter to me about my speech. She is a believer. She told me what she saw while she was in the audience. She thought it was really good and that many of the kids were listening which was a great encouragement. The whole goal of this speech was to encourage the believers in the class and also to plant seeds. Praise the Lord that about 25 kids heard the gospel. Please continue to pray for them. The Lord is good. I am so thankful and excited at the opportunities I had this year and I can’t wait for more of them on campus next year. Praise the Lord for all He has done this year. Thank you all for your prayers.

Reflection of Christ's Suffering, Death and Resurrection

I was reflecting on why we celebrate Easter this evening. What an amazing story it is. I am going to start at the Lord’s Supper. They went into the upper room to eat the Passover together. They eat and then the Lord’s Supper is instituted. Judas had left before this had happened. The Lord went out with the eleven disciples and walked to the Garden of Gethsemane. We will stop here and think about what Christ went through here. As He went to pray, he told the disciples to keep watch (Which they didn’t do well at and fell asleep. Three times Christ came and woke them up throughout the time Jesus spent in prayer.) Jesus went and prayed that the Fathers will be done and that if there was any way for God’s wrath to be satisfied, then let that happen. His sweat was like drops of blood. He was there pleading with His Father, yet He always wanted the Father’s will to be done. In Luke, it tells us that an angel came to Him and strengthened Him. Christ knew what He was going to go through and He was ready. It was time. He got up and asked them for the third time “why are you sleeping?” Immediately, Judas came with a Roman Cohort (around 600 soldiers) and officers. They were ready for a fight and ready to take Jesus away. Judas came to Him having told the Romans that the one he kisses is the one they are to take captive. Peter being the “brave one” goes and cuts off the high priests slaves’ ear. Jesus stops Peter and then heals the slaves’ ear. He showed love even for those that hated Him and that were taking Him to His death. He went to several different leaders both Jewish and Roman. I will not account these is detail, but I will look at what our Lord had to suffer during these trials. First of all it was an illegal trial that He was taken to, held at night. When He answered the High priest with the truth, an officer strike’s Him. Many times during that night Jesus was beaten and struck. Early in the morning He was taken to Pilate. Pilate could find no guilt in Him but, it was his custom to let go a prisoner during the Passover celebration. So he gave the Jews a choice between a notorious robber named Barabbas and Jesus Christ. The Jews chose Barabbas. Think about how Jesus felt. He came to the Jews as the Messiah they had been waiting for and they were shouting Crucify Him, Crucify Him. There was a greater and better plan then anyone could have ever imagined. All the people wanted was Jesus to be crucified. Pilate then took Jesus and gave him over to the soldiers to be scourged. When Jesus was scourged it was done with a whip that had barbed hooks, glass and sharp metal in it and it wouldn’t just bruise up the skin, but it would tear into the skin. There would be nothing but a mess of muscle exposed on His back. The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns. These thorns were not small thorns like on a rose bush. These were big thorns. They put it on His head and it wasn’t just a gentle placement, but they made sure it was on his head. Blood came running down around His face. They mocked Him saying, “Hail, King of the Jews.” They spat on Him. They took a reed and beat Him on the head. The blows driving the thorns deeper into His head. Then they took him to be crucified. When Jesus walked up that hill he was only carrying the cross beam and as He carried it on His shoulders and back it was heavy. The wood splinters went deep into the exposed wounds of His back, from the scourging that took place. The clots that were once there were ripped away. It became so heavy that Jesus could no longer carry it. The Romans pressed a man named Simon into service to carry the cross for Jesus. They then crucified him. The drove the nails into His hands and His feet and even more blood came out of His body. With every stroke of the hammer there was pain and the nails were driven deep into the wood. They hoisted the cross upright and there He hung while the people jeered at Him and spat upon Him. The soldiers gambled for His garments. Even the men that were crucified with Him made fun of Him at first. For three hours darkness fell upon the land. Then Jesus cried out with a loud voice My God, My God why have you forsaken me. The Father had laid the sins of the whole world and had left Him alone. He left Him to bear the tremendous burden of the sins of the whole world by Himself. The Father’s wrath that was meant for us was on Christ, the perfect spotless Lamb of God. Jesus Christ was the only one that could satisfy the Fathers wrath toward mankind. Why did the Father do this? Because He loved us. Jesus then cried out with a loud voice “It is finished” and gave up His spirit. Jesus Christ conquered sin and satisfied God’s wrath. It wasn’t the Romans that killed Him. Yes, they crucified Him, but He willingly gave up His spirit. He willingly went through this pain and suffering with one goal in mind. That goal was to pay the penalty for our sins. All of this was for us, so that the wrath of God would not come upon us, sinners. Jesus Christ did this out of love for us, even when he was reviled and beaten. What love is this that the Son of God would lay down His life for me and everyone in the whole world? The Jews needed to get Jesus’ body off the cross so Pilate told the guards to go break the legs of the crucified ones. When the guards came to Jesus, He was already dead, but to make sure they stabbed him in the side and blood and water came out. Joseph of Arimathea had His tomb ready for the body of Jesus and they took Him and put Him in the grave. Guards were put around the tomb to guard the body in case someone came and stole it. At this point most stories end. That is most stories end in death. But this story is different. The Jews don’t count days by twenty-four hours, but by the first day being the night Jesus was buried and then the next day being the second day and then the day after that being the third day. On that third day, Jesus rose from the grave. The day before was Sabbath so no one came to put spices of Jesus body. But on the third day a group of women came and they were surprised to find that the tomb was open, the stone was rolled away and it was empty. An Angel spoke to them and told them He has risen. Come and see for yourself and go tell the others. JESUS HAS RISEN. What an amazing truth. That is what Easter is all about, celebrating Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection. What an awesome God we have that sent His Son, Jesus Christ to this earth to die on the cross for our sins to pay the penalty for our sins and to conquer sin once for all time, but it didn’t just stop there. He rose again to show He had conquered death for all time. He rose again to that we could have eternal life. So that when God looks at us He sees us as Holy and righteous. He sees us as justified and He sees the perfect spotless Lamb of God, who took our place so that we do not have to pay the penalty for our sins but if we believe in Jesus Christ, that He did all of this for us, we have eternal life. What a story of true love. This is the best love story ever. So during Easter let us remember what our Savior has done for us and went through for us, because it is the greatest gift given to all of mankind. Jesus Christ Has RISEN, Praise His Holy name!!!!!

Do We Owe God Anything?

There was a question that was asked of me several weeks ago, a question that I had not thought about before. It has made me very curious to see what I could find. That question is “Do we owe God anything?” Many people try to get others to go out on the mission field by saying, “You owe God your life so you should go to the mission field for Him.” This is an interesting statement. Do we owe God anything?

First let’s take a look at a few passages. Ephesians 2:8-9 says “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.” What is grace? Grace is getting what we don’t deserve. It is by grace that we have been saved through faith. We do not have salvation by doing good works but it is the gift of God. If you give someone a gift are they going to reach into their wallet or purse and pay for the gift. If they did, we would be offended . God gave us a free gift. It was the most expensive gift and there is no need for us to pay Him anything. We do not owe God anything. This is not to say we are not to do good works. In the next verse it says “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” We are to do good works but not for the reason that we owe God for what He has done.

The reason we should be doing good works, that we are to be sharing the gospel, and that we should be going to the mission field is because of our Love for our Savior and because we want to share our Savior with all people. It is not because we owe God anything. Let us look at Paul. In His letters to the Romans, Philippians, and Titus he calls himself a bondservant of Jesus Christ. How is a bondservant different from other servants? There is a big difference. A bondservant is one who worked for his master for a long time and then one day the master told him, he was free. Instead of going away and doing his own thing the bondservant decided to serve his master for life. They would get an awl and pierce it through his ear into the door. Then He would be the master’s servant forever. (Deut 15:12-18) Paul has given His life to Christ and out of his love for his Master has decided to stay with Him and serve Him for the rest of his life. Paul does not do this because he owes Him anything but because He loves His Savior and Master. This should be the attitude of every Christian. We should be willing to do what God wants us to do because we love Him. We should be willing to obey what He commands of us because we love Him, not because we owe Him or because we feel that we have to. I Corinthians 9:16 says “For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for I am under compulsion; for woe is me if I do not preach the gospel.” We see here that Paul feels obligated to share the gospel. The reason for this is because Christ commanded believers to” Go into all the world and preach the gospel.” (Mark 16:15) Jesus said in John 14:15 "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” And in v21a "He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me.” And in v23-24 "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; … He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father's who sent Me.” If we love Christ we will follow His commandments and His words. Paul preached the gospel out of love for his Savior, Jesus Christ, and His Father in Heaven. Because of this love, he obeyed Christ’s commandments, which were directly from the Father.

We don’t owe God anything, but if we love Him, we should be willing to give our life to Him. In showing our love for Him, we should be willing to die for Him. Everything we do should be out of love for Him and not because we owe Him. If we love the Lord then we will obey His commandments. That day that Christ, our Savior, died on the cruel cross of Calvary. That day that He was bruised, beaten and scourged. That day that His innocent blood was shed on the cross for you and for me. That day was the day he showed His love for mankind. All that Christ did was as a gift for the whole world, so that those who believed on Him would be saved. Does that not make you want to love your Savior even more? Does that love for your Savior not make you want to tell someone about Him? Do you not want to show your love for Him by obeying what He commands? Every time I think of that day that my Savior died, it brings tears of joy to my eyes for that great gift of salvation He gave to me and I don’t owe Him anything but I love Him for that very reason. I love Him, because He first loved me and that love for Him should be the drive behind everything I do. It should be what separates me from the world that does not love Him and what shows the world that I am a follower of Christ. What is the reason you serve the Lord ? Is it out of love for your Savior or is it because you feel that you owe Him and you need to try to repay Him back? I will leave you with the verse that has been pressing upon my heart. “If you love Me you, will keep My commandments.” John 14:15 (see comment below)

January/February Evangelism 2011

Hello everyone,
I guess I should update you all on what evangelism has been going on in my neck of the woods. I am currently in Bozeman, MT at Montana State University taking Civil Engineering. The Lord has blessed me with so many opportunities to share the gospel with my unbelieving class mates. This semester there have been several kids in my classes, that were in my Speech class last semester when I shared the gospel with them. Praise the Lord for the opportunities that I have with them. Every other day I get to sit by Jake, who is hostile toward the gospel, in my Chemistry class. Let me start at the beginning. When Chemistry first started he sat by me and I started giving him gospel tracts every class period. Each of them different. He would be bugging me swearing at me taking God’s name in vain at the start of the class to try to rile me up and then I would give him a gospel tract and he would leave me alone for the remainder of the time. Every time he told me that the tract was depressing and every time I would try to talk to him but he never wanted to talk to me. Please pray as the semester goes along I will be able to talk to Him about Jesus Christ dying on the cross. There are also two other guys that sit with us. Please pray for their Salvation as well. Also pray for Blane, Kyle, Riley, Christian, Ammon, Will and another one in particular who is in almost all of my classes Chris. So many opportunities, I am loving it. Please pray for boldness and love on my part.
This past Saturday I was going to meet someone to go out and do evangelism but I couldn’t get ahold of them so I went with my Lord. The weather was 17 degrees with a windchill of -10 degrees. Most people would think that no one would be out on a day like that. I know it sounds crazy but I seem to have the best conversations with people when it is either storming or really cold. That is exactly what happened. It was so cold that I could barely move my mouth but the Lord helped me to be able to speak and share the gospel with several people. The rest were too busy and cold to stop and talk but most of them took a tract. Please pray for Josh who goes to a big church here in Bozeman and believes that Heaven in here on the earth. He did not want to talk to me after I quoted that Jesus went to prepare a place for us. He told me my interpretation of that passage was wrong and that I needed to go study it out further. Then He left with a gospel tract. Coming the other way that instant was a couple who when I gave them a gospel tract and told them what it was turned around and said I love the gospel and I try to share it and live it in my life. He and his wife were so excited that I was out sharing the gospel with people. I stopped another kid that said that the way to heaven was by being a good Christian, never once did he mention Jesus Christ. He thought you got to heaven through good works. When I took him through the ten commandments he said he was still a good person and going to heaven. Finally, told him that it was only through Jesus Christ that we could get to heaven and he said he had to go right away. He took a tract also please pray for him. Please pray for the rest of the people I was able to talk to and give gospel tracts. Praise the Lord for the way He is working here in Bozeman. Please pray for those trying to discourage my ministry in street evangelism. I know that this is what the Lord has put on my heart and it is what I enjoy more than anything else. Thank you for your prayers.
T.J. Kerttula

Glorifying God in Everything We Watch, Listen to and Do

Some Christians a long time ago saw worldly things coming out as new fads and decided that they were not for the glory of God. One such thing was going to shows (movies). Now days many Christians say you are “old fashion” if you don't watch or be a part these things. It has been on my heart lately how many bad things there are in many movies and shows. These bad things are not glorifying to God. Most Christians just set this aside and try to allegorize the movie so that they come up with a principle found in the Bible. They try to make an excuse to watch something that is not glorifying to God. I can honestly say that I have no problem with movies, as long as they are glorifying to God. Sometimes we make excuses so that we can satisfy our selfish desires instead of glorifying God. Other times we want to look just like the world so that we can try to get more of them to believe Christ. Something seems wrong with that way of thinking. Brothers and Sister of Christ, we are called to be different from the world. We are called to not be the same as the world, but going back to the topic at hand. I am not saying that all movies or shows are bad and that we should never watch them. The question we should ask our self is, “Is this glorifying to God? Is what I watch, what I listen to, what I do glorifying to God? If Jesus were sitting with us watching, would He be pleased? Or would He be disappointed that we are wasting our lives in such a way that has no spiritual benefit to us? Wasting our life on things that draw us away from Him? Wasting our time on things that could cause us to stumble into sin?” These are questions we should look at in light of scripture. 1 Corinthians 10:31 “Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” Colossians 3:1-17 (look it up and read it in your Bible). I find that if I listen to stuff that is not glorifying to God I seem to have a bad attitude. On the other hand if I listen to things that are glorifying to God then I am encouraged and have a good attitude. If we are setting our minds on things above then we should be thinking about things that are glorifying to God. Everything we do is to be done for the glory of Christ. If we fill our minds with garbage we will have bad attitudes and we won’t be thinking about things above. If we fill ourselves with things of Christ then we will have good attitudes. We will be setting our minds on things above and we will reflect Christ through our lives even more. We will be a brighter light shining for Christ.

I have been thinking of these things because I see a lack of godliness and righteousness in “Christians” lives. It made me ask myself what is the reason for this? What can I do to make people think about godliness and righteousness? What can I do to make them think about glorifying God in everything they do, watch and hear? There is a song that really makes you think about the effects of what we put in our minds. It’s called “Garbage in” by Tal and Acacia. “Garbage in, Garbage out what goes in is found out, all can see what goes in me, I pay the price.” Brothers and sisters in Christ this may only be a sliver of what we must look at to live a godly and righteous life but it is a good place to start. I challenge you to glorify God in everything that you do.

I will leave you with a quote to ponder from My Heart, My Life, My All by William MacDonald:“As the deeper significance of what happened there (At Calvary) begins to dawn on him or her, that person will never be the same. He says, in effect: ‘I have seen a vision, And for self I cannot live. Life is worthless, Unless all I give.’ People (True believers in Jesus Christ) like that will never again be satisfied with a bland Christian life. They determine that they will never again lower themselves to the chill of their environment. They realize that the Christianity they see every day is not the Christianity of the New Testament. A new drive controls them. They have a passion that absorbs their waking hours. They may become what some call a fanatic, but that does not deter them in the least. If they have lost their mind, they have found the mind of Christ. If they are beside themselves, it is for God. If they seem odd and out of step, it is because they march to the beat of a different Drummer. They don't want anything to come between their soul and full commitment to the Savior."

Salvation Prepared in the Presence of All Peoples

Luke 2:25-33

“And there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; and this man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel; and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. And he came in the Spirit into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to carry out for Him the custom of the Law, then he took Him into his arms, and blessed God, and said,

‘Now Lord, You are releasing Your bond-servant to depart in peace,

According to Your word;

For my eyes have seen Your salvation,

Which You have prepared in the presence of all peoples,

A LIGHT OF REVELATION TO THE GENTILES,
And the glory of Your people Israel.’

And His father and mother were amazed at the things which were being said about Him."

(for the full story read Luke 2.) :)

What an amazing passage. This part of Jesus’ life takes place about forty days after His birth. This man named Simeon is righteous and devout. He was looking for the consolation of Israel, the comfort of Israel. The comfort of Israel is the Messiah. He was told that he would see the Messiah before He died. Mary and Joseph came to Jerusalem about forty days after Jesus was born to offer Him to the Lord and to offer sacrifices for purification according to the Law. Simeon was also in the temple because the Spirit of the Lord was upon Him. Simeon took Jesus into His arms. Can you imagine how he felt? He was holding the Comforter of Israel. He blessed God. He had seen God’s Salvation. What is amazing about what Simeon says is in verses 31-32. HE says I have seen Your Salvation “which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, A LIGHT OF REVELATION TO THE GENTILES (Isaiah 42:6, 49:6), And the glory of your people Israel.” Simeon knew that the Messiah had come not only for the Salvation of Israel but also to save the Gentiles. Way back when Jesus was around forty days old it was known by this man that He was to be the Savior of the whole world. How amazing is that?!! God who came in the humble form of a baby was to be the Savior of the World. He wouldn’t be one who fought bravely with the sword or a mighty General to defeat the Romans at the present time. His Salvation would be greater than that. It would last for eternity. It would be Salvation from sin, hell and separation from Him for all eternity. A Salvation that would last for all of eternity. A Salvation for all the peoples of the earth. The only way He could bring about this Salvation was to die on a cross. To pay the penalty of the world’s sins with his blood, the blood of the Lamb of God, the perfect sacrifice. But the greatest part is that the story does not end in death but in the fact the Jesus Christ rose from the grave to show that He conquered sin and death for all time. This great plan of Salvation is played out in the rest of the book of Luke what an exciting story. What a wonderful Savior is Jesus. We get to celebrate not only at Christmas time but all the time. Let us give Him all the glory now and forever not only at Christmas time, or at Easter, or Thanksgiving but all the time, every day. He has given us the greatest gift, Salvation to all men. Heavenly Father, thank you for sending your Son, Jesus Christ, the Messiah, in the form of a baby to become the Savior of the whole world. Thank You, Father, for this great gift of Salvation to all men. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Here Am I

Here is a poem that I found in Nigeria. I have no idea who wrote it but I really like it. This is the prayer of my heart.



Here am I, Lord, Make me ready

Mold me use me Lord, May I give what I have

My testimonies, my prayers, my love

May I go into the world with the Good News, Lord

I am willing, I am ready

Here am I, Lord, send me.

Good deeds are not for Salvation so why should we do them? Part 1

“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds. These things speak and exhort and reprove with all authority. Let no one disregard you.” Titus 2:11-15 (NASB)
Paul in this passage is talking to Titus. There are two things that we see here in these first couple of verses. First, God’s grace appeared bringing salvation to all men. Not just the Jews or the Gentiles but to ALL mankind. Second, God’s grace appeared instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age. God’s grace appeared instructing us, it appeared telling us what we need to do. Teaching us to DENY ungodliness and worldly desires. To deny, means to refuse to acknowledge. We are to not even acknowledge ungodliness and worldly desires. We are to have no part with them. We are to deny them access to our lives. We are to reject them. Paul then goes on to say that Gods’ grace appeared instructing us to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the past age? Or the future age? No, the present age! This means we cannot say I will deny ungodliness and worldly desires and live a sensible, righteous, godly life tomorrow or sometime in the future. We are to live a sensible, righteous, godly life NOW, in the present age. While living this life we are to be looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus. Jesus came to this earth as a humble lowly servant that was when the grace of God appeared. Now we are looking for the appearing of the glory of Christ Jesus. Christ Jesus is our great God and Savior! He gave Himself for us for two reasons. To redeem us from part of our lawless deeds or a few of our lawless deeds? No! He came to redeem us from EVERY lawless deed! He also came to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, ZEALOUS for good deeds. I love that word zealous. Zealous means passionate, fanatical, fervent, keen, and enthusiastic. Every time I read that word zealous it gets me excited. We are to be zealous for good deeds. We are to be passionate, enthusiastic about doing good deeds. It’s not sitting waiting for an opportunity to do a good deed to come around, but it is looking for opportunities to do a good deed so that Christ can shine through what you are doing. We should be zealous for good deeds so that Christ is shown through them. Not for your own glory but for Christ’s glory. This verse reminds me of one of my favorite verses. Matthew 5:16 says “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” What is our light? Christ is our light. John 1:4-5 “In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” We are to let Christ shine in our lives, therefore when we are zealous for good deeds, people will see Christ in us and we will have more opportunities to share Him with others both with our mouths and with our actions. Being zealous for good deeds is a lifestyle as is all of this passage.
Brothers and sisters this is to be our lifestyle. We are to deny ungodliness and worldly desires right now. We are to live sensible, righteous, godly lives right now, not tomorrow. We are to be looking for the blessed hope and appearing of our God and Savior, Christ Jesus. We are to be looking for this one who redeemed us and purified us. We are to be Zealous for good deeds, so that we can show our God and Savior, Jesus Christ to this lost and dying world.
Paul tells Titus at the end of this chapter, “These things speak and exhort and reprove with all authority. Let no one disregard you.”
*This has been posted but as I have gotten into this subject more and more I have decided to write more on this. So that is why it is called part 1. I am planning and hoping for a part two or at least another draft of this note including everything that I am finding. This subject has been something I have been learning about lately. I hope you all enjoy what the Lord has shown me.

Alimo's Legacy by Shana Kerttula

Everyone has a heart full of love, not all will share it. Everyone has a sense of right and wrong, not all will listen to it. Everyone can see wrong, but few have the courage change. Everyone has a story, But who will listen. I have a story to tell but it’s not my own. A story of Neglect, a story of love, a story of grief, a story of joy. In 1979 a missionary woman named Esther Nordman was going to a conference in a village. She saw something out of the corner of her eye. At first glance it looked like a dead animal, left lying on the ground. She looked closer. It was not an animal nor was it dead, it was a small child. Esther went back home and brought back her husband Leslie to see the child. She was unbathed, naked and half starved. The couple asked around as to who her parents were. It turns out the father had died and the mother suffered of a mental disability. The family was happy to give the child to the Nordmans. They took her home bathed her, cut her hair, fed her, and poured all the love they could into her. Her name was Alimo. She was severely disabled both physically and mentally. Alimo was very happy, for a time. The couple tried to adopt her but they were unable before they had to returned to the United States. So Esther and Leslie had to leave their dear child and return home. They left her in the care of the CMML mission. The mission hired a nanny to care for her. The Nanny gave Alimo only two jobs. 1. Keep clean. 2. Not to eat anything that was not given to her to eat. So Alimo spent hours sitting quietly not allowed to play because she might get dirty, and fed very little. At this time Caroline Gross was in the United States burying her beloved husband, Paul Gross. She then came back to Nigeria. One Sunday Alimo’s nanny asked for ride to church. Mom Gross having a car at the time agreed to drive her. When Mom Gross arrived to pick her up the Nanny came out alone. She asked where Alimo was. The nanny replied that she was inside. When asked if Alimo was alone the Nanny said no someone was taking care of her. As Mom Gross drove her to church she couldn’t rid herself of the feeling that something wasn’t right. So she left everyone at church and went back to check on Alimo. As she walked into the room she saw Alimo, Alone, Quietly sitting on the bed. Across the room sat a basket of candy. Even though Alimo was very hungry she had not touched a single one of them. She had been so well trained, yet so very neglected. Mom Gross took her home, loved her, and devoted much of her time to Alimo. She decided to adopt Alimo, but when she went to adopt her she found out that Alimo had already been adopted. That she’d have to get permission from the Nordmans. They gladly consented to have Mom Gross adopt her. She ended up adopting Alimo in Nigeria but not in the United States because of some stipulations about the amount of time that she would have to spend in the USA, that she would not be able to fulfill. So when she traveled she got Alimo visa’s and brought along people to care for her while they were in the States. Mom Gross took in more children, caring for them, and loving them. Pretty soon the full time care became too much. The Doctor told her she couldn’t do it anymore. So Mary Edeh, one of the girls who had cared for Alimo while in the USA, packed everyone and everything up and moved them to Otutulu. This is where Mary’s Brother Daniel and his wife Esther lived. So they all lived in a house at the bottom of the hill. Soon they outgrew the house and built a bigger building. Over the years this became known as Ministry of Mercy Orphanage. Mom Gross had to return to the States for a bit of time. On this particular trip she left Alimo home. Alimo got very sick. She was taken to the hospital in Ika. Upon her arrival they performed a surgery on her. Mom Gross returned to more grief. On May 6, 2000 Alimo went home to be with her Lord and Savior. She was twenty-six years old. Loved and missed by many. To this day Alimo’s legacy lives on. I see it as I walk the halls, hear the joyful squeals, and feel the little body’s crowd around for a hug. As listened to this story, and later wrote it out, I was struck by how through it all I could see how God worked in everything. He had a plan. He was never surprised. God has a plan for every life. His greatest plan for us was sending His Son into the world to die on the cross to save us from eternal separation from God in Hell. Trust Him with your life He knows everything about you and what’s best for you!

The Gospel Speech in Comm 110 at Montana State University

As I heard my teacher say, “Thank you Julie, TJ you’re up next.” My heart started pounding words were stuck in my throat. I praying Lord help me. The week before I had been praying about what I should do for my persuasive speech at school at the beginning of the year I had decided on doing a gospel message. As the weeks had gone on it look almost impossible to do it. I turned it over and over in my mind. Then I thought well maybe the reliability of the Bible would be a better subject. Two weeks before the speech I started to prepare it but I felt the gospel needed to be given still. I wrestled with it and finally one night I had this dream about it. Now I am not the type of person who would normally say this dream said this so this is what God wants,but I woke up early in the morning after having a dream about my speech. I wrote down everything that I could remember saying. That is when I decided to go back to the subject of the gospel. I still had one thing left though what was I to do for opposition? There are so many sides to the opposition or is there? That night I slept well, so well if fact I had another dream. Now two dreams about the same speech in a row, that is kind of crazy. This time I got my opposition. Works vs. Christ. I realized that most religions are based on works. So that was my opposition. I had everything ready for the outline. The night before the speech I started to write it. Everything fit so perfectly together. I was so excited about it. I would be able to give the gospel to twenty people in public on the MSU campus. As everything came together I thanked the Lord that I was not trying to do it on my own. I was thankful that He was there guiding me to do what He wanted me to do. As I kept going on I thought that I might not have enough sources for my citation but when I finished I had a bunch of sources. I was absolutely amazed how the Lord worked everything out. I was a little worried about the time limit because we had 10 minutes and if we went over it was cut off, right at ten minutes. When I practiced it, I got a 9:45 time on it. As I finished up the last of it, I thanked the Lord for such a wonderful speech. I had asked many people to pray for me. They did pray for me. As I asked more and more people to pray for me it seemed like the people praying for me grew in numbers more and more. The comment from some of the people was “TJ you have a lot of courage in doing that. I don’t think I could ever do that.” The next day seemed like the longest morning ever. I had one class in the morning then a two hour wait for the speech. I couldn’t sit still I had to move. I kept wondering and preparing for the worst. I thought “me have a lot of courage? I feel so scared. I feel like I may not be able to go through with this. What will my class think?” Then it hit me. This was not about me, it is about God. It’s about giving the gospel out no matter what the cost, not matter if man thinks of me as a loser or it he thinks I am weird. To be thought of in this way is such a small cost compared to people giving their lives up for Christ. (Which is not a cost at all in my eyes, because you get to be with the Savior. I think you get what I am getting at though.)The worst thing that could happen is that I get a failing grade for that speech, in which I still pass the class, so that’s not a big deal. Then another thought came to me. I am not alone. What do I have to be afraid of? All they can say is words against me. The Lord is with me. I prayed for strength to give this speech. When I went to class I got there early so as to get the spot I wanted but I had also prayed that I would be able to get the spot my Lord wanted me to get. That spot was second to last. As people came in and set up to speak, I prayed for them to have softened hearts and to receive the gospel. As people went through and got done with their speeches I thought “Wow, she is being very critical on their speeches.” Every single one of them was given something that was wrong with their speeches. I thought “O boy I am going to get it.” She is going to stop me right in the middle and I won’t be able to finish. I kept praying. Then it was my time. I heard my teacher say “Thank you Julie, TJ you’re up next.” I was ready for the worst. The Lord was on my side. I was ready and very nervous. As I started setting everything up a peace came over me. I felt confident and ready to do what the Lord had for me to do. At the beginning before everything started I handed out 15 gospels of John to the class. (Fifteen, because the other five had decided to skip class.) One of the guys pipes up. “Wow this is a gospel of John. That’s awesome!!!” I had to laugh because I was totally not expecting that from that kid. After telling them to stick it in their pocket or in their backpack, I silently asked the Lord to speak through me. Right then, I was ready to go. I went through the first part talking about several religions and how they rely on works. There is a kid from Saudi Arabia in my class who is a Muslim and as I talked about Muslims he nodded his head in agreement, that this is what a Muslim had to do to get to heaven. Briefly I talked about some of the main religions. Then I went into the law and then that Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven. Everyone listen and I could see that some of them were convicted. The Lord was there with me. I am amazed at how when we try to do things in our own power we struggle but when the Lord is giving us the words to say it is amazing. As I finished up I was praising the Lord in my heart and bracing myself for the worst. My teacher asked two people to critique me. As I waited for their critique I was waiting to be stoned with text books or something. It’s funny because both of the people that critiqued me liked the speech and how it was done. The comment was that you have a lot of guts to get up and do that here. All I can do is give the glory to God because if it was in my own power I would have never been able to do it. The crazy part about it was that the two people the critiqued me said they didn’t know what to say to work on next time I spoke. Next the critiquing went on to my teacher. I braced myself a second time. Her comment was that it was well put together and that I was able to cover the subject very well in the time period I had. She said she really enjoyed it. I was so relieved. Although there were several hostile looks from the rest of the crowd, I did not care because I was praising the Lord for everything that had happened that day. You might say well then the story is over and I really enjoyed it. Well it’s not over yet. I got my grade a week later. I was expecting a low grade even though my teacher liked it but when I looked at it I was astonished. It was way higher than I ever expected it to be. It was a 91.25%. An “A” in speech class is hard to get. Again I praised the Lord. That’s sounds like a good end to this story doesn’t it but if I were to end there I would not be giving you a complete account of the whole story. The Wednesday after the speech we had our lecture for speech class. I usually sit with some of the kids in my recitation so I sat down where I normally sit and got a cold glare from one of the girls and one of the guys started swearing at me randomly.(This is normal to me because that’s what I get on the street most of the time.) Then class started. The lecture was on Ethics and Morals. The comment my professor (different person from my recitation teacher) made was that there should never be a religious speech in the class. He had no idea I had already done my speech. As he went on he was very hostile to Christianity. He told us there was no place for those things in speech class. The guy started swearing and making fun of me and glaring at me and so did the girl. I ignored them. Finally the class was over. Praise the Lord that I was able to do my speech before my professor did that lecture. Persecution comes in many different ways. I have no idea if this is the end of the story but if there is more to write about there will be a part 2 to this story. All the glory for this goes to God. He gave me the opportunity and was with me the whole time. I hope that this is an encouragement to all especially to those who are in college to stand up boldly for their faith when the opportunity arises and to share the gospel with all even when we don’t feel like we have the courage to. What an awesome God we have that we have been given this great message to share with other people.